Writing for this week’s issue of Utility Week, Greatex says that energy secretary Amber Rudd’s recent commitment to phase out coal by 2023 “is perhaps going to be a more difficult commitment to meet than envisaged – and requiring intervention from the government beyond relying on upgrade costs proving prohibitive.”
His comments follow the news that the owners of seven coal fired power stations have chosen not to take the government up on its offer of an opt-out from European emissions targets. Had they done so, they would have had to close by 2023 as part of the deal.
Instead, the power plants can either comply with stringent European emissions limits immediately, or sign up to a transitional programme (TNP) that gives them until 2020 to do so. This latter route enables the plant’s owners to keep their options open, delaying a decision on when and whether to close the plants.
The seven stations are: Drax, Ratcliffe-on-Soar, Fiddler’s Ferry, Cottam, West Burton, Aberthaw and Rugeley. EDF-owned Cottam and West Burton and RWE’s Aberthaw had all been granted opt-outs by the government, which were later rescinded, suggesting a change in intention on the part of their owners.
Greatrex wrote: “Perhaps large generators can foresee further lucrative tightened capacity induced measures from government and grid three or four years hence.”